Macklemore has claimed nine American arenas refused to host his ‘Free Palestine’ tour, accusing venue owners of attempting to silence his support for Palestinians.
The rapper shared a lengthy statement on Instagram yesterday (November 6), explaining that he had intended to bring the tour to the US following three sold-out concerts in Dublin, Paris and London last month.
However, he said his team had been turned away by nine venues, despite initially having being offered available dates before the end of the year.
“From the beginning, our plan was to bring this tour home to the U.S.,” he wrote. “But after weeks of reaching out, nine major American arenas have turned us down.”
He named New York’s Madison Square Garden, Newark’s Prudential Center, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Long Island’s UBS Arena, Los Angeles venues Intuit Dome, Kia Forum and Crypto.com Arena, San Francisco’s Chase Center and Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.
“By mid-September, we received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year,” Macklemore claimed. “But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table.”
“The doors were closed. The conversations were all different, but the result was the same. The shows were not going to be allowed to happen in these venues.”
He added: “In over twenty years of touring, I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
Madison Square Garden has since responded to the allegations, disputing the suggestion that its decision was politically motivated.
An MSG Entertainment spokesperson told TMZ: “We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena level act.”
In his statement, Macklemore argued that the difficulties he had encountered were part of a wider pattern of pressure against performers who publicly support Palestinians.
“Looking back over the last three years, the only real regret I have is not speaking publicly when Zionists were kicking me under the table,” he wrote. “At the time, I didn’t believe that centering what was happening to me was worth taking any attention away from the genocide in Palestine.”
He continued: “But the intimidation, manipulation and suppression I experienced are part of how those in power keep entertainers quiet. It’s their main tactic to keep us in line. Shut up and dribble, or you will be punished.”
The rapper went on to criticise wealthy venue owners and their business relationships with Israel, arguing that financial power should not determine which political causes artists can support.
“We live in a country that prides itself on freedom of speech,” he wrote. “Yet we’ve reached a point where a handful of billionaires can decide which causes are acceptable, which voices are welcome and which human lives are worth defending.”
He added: “To these owners, the words Free Palestine represent a threat. Not because they endanger anyone, but because those words challenge the systems of power they have built their fortunes on.”
Macklemore said he remained committed to organising further benefit concerts, even if that meant abandoning plans to perform at conventional arenas.
“There will be more shows for Palestine,” he wrote. “We’ll keep working with other artists and organizers, continuing where we left off in Europe. We’ll probably just take that shit outside where it belonged in the first place.”
He concluded: “We will build our own stages. They may own the arenas. But they do not own the people who fill them. And they never will.”
The latest dispute follows Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s US ‘Loop Tour’ in September, after he made speeches in support of Palestinians during concerts at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
The rapper faced criticism from billionaire Robert Kraft, the owner of Gillette Stadium, who said he would not permit Macklemore to perform at the venue because of concerns about the messaging of his set.
Sheeran subsequently said the decision to remove Macklemore was made by promoters and venue owners, rather than himself, adding that he had attempted to find a resolution.The controversy also prompted several support acts, including Finneas, Beoga and Lukas Graham, to withdraw from Sheeran’s tour in solidarity with Macklemore.
Following his dismissal, the rapper pledged his entire $1million earnings from the tour to six organisations supporting Palestinians.
He then launched the ‘Free Palestine Tour’, holding the opening concert in Dublin on October 26 alongside Hozier and Kneecap.
The tour subsequently visited Paris, where Aurora, Pomme and Portugal. The Man were among the performers, before concluding in London with appearances from Greta Thunberg, Paloma Faith and Nemahsis.